Colorado is cracking down on pesticide use in the marijuana industry, trying to end years of sloppy oversight of which chemicals are used on the nascent industry.

A state Senate panel voted 7-0 Friday to give the Colorado Department of Agriculture $300,000 to step up pesticide enforcement in the new marijuana industry. The appropriation came after Denver authorities found tens of thousands of marijuana plants treated with unauthorized chemicals, and ordered quarantines.

The Denver quarantines at 11 separate pot-growing warehouses in recent weeks have underscored an open secret in Colorado's nascent weed business -- that although the state outlines which chemicals commercial pot growers can use on their plants, it lacks manpower to enforce those rules.

A requirement that commercial marijuana undergo contaminant testing has been on the books for years in Colorado, but those testing requirements have yet to be implemented because of testing backlogs. And there's no contaminant testing requirement for medical pot, though a bill to require such testing by 2016 is pending.

The bill also sends voters a ballot measure asking for permission for the state to keep some $58 million in new pot taxes despite constitutional spending restrictions that would otherwise require them to be refunded.